[Sheriff's dept.] "encouraged the Guard to shoot people"

[Logansquare]

Remember the sheriffs who shot at the tourists trying to walk out of New Orleans? They were misidentified as the Gretna Sheriff's Department--Gretna has a police department--Jefferson is the parish/county.
http://www.vermontguardian.com/national/0904/VermontGuard.shtml

Vermont Guard delivers relief: People complain about police abuse, express anger at feds/
The Vermont Guardian
September 16, 2005

"A distraught woman, mother of three, said: “We’re just hanging on strong … I’m just trying to look after my children … We’re trying to keep clean the best way we can, but it still has the whole filth and smell in it. <snip>

Addressing local officials, she became angry and proclaimed, “People came here and drew guns on us … were about to beat up my son on his birthday because he told them not to search his bag,” she said. “They came out from nowhere, just crept up on us. When it’s dark, we can’t see nothing. We didn’t know what was going on. They draw guns on us, telling us to raise our hands up … My little niece was right there, she had her baby and they still was drawing guns … We had no choice but to put our hands up or we’d get shot. They said, ‘We saw you breaking into people’s cars’ and were gonna shoot somebody"<snip>

"The night before the Guard delivered food to this neighborhood, I rode with them on patrol less than a mile away. Two local officers from the sheriff’s department pulled up to the Guard and told Guard members that “no one on this street is innocent.” They further encouraged the Guard to shoot people, and said they would cover up such events.

To date, members of the Vermont National Guard have not fired a weapon."

[Eric J in MN]

1. I support raising the age at which one can start as a cop to 40.

That way, people with attitude problems will probably be held accountable as civilians, and can be kept off a police force.

[nashville_brook]

2. they said they would COVER UP the killings? -- people need to see this

there can't be too many sheriffs from jefferson parish. they need to prosecute these people. who knows how many dead were shot and not drowned. no autopsies, my ass. honest people need to stand up, now. dammit!

[Logansquare]

7. That was the part that really gave me the creeps

That they would be so blatant about it. I wonder how many people were used for target practice.

[ecoflame]

3. I'm not even sure what you're saying...

The people I saw on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann's show as a matter of fact, stated emphatically - the cars read 'Gretna' - as have other people.

The night before the Guard delivered food to this neighborhood, I rode with them on patrol less than a mile away. Two local officers from the sheriff’s department pulled up to the Guard and told Guard members that “no one on this street is innocent.” They further encouraged the Guard to shoot people, and said they would cover up such events.

How did the Guard members know the officers were 'local' as in city vs county police cadre?

I mean, in our little town we have a sheriff. He is a city employee, NOT paid by the county as a member of county sheriff's department.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Here's an article that documents the brutality of the Gretna Police

September 10, 2005

GRETNA, La. — Thursday night's mission for the Vermont National Guard members assisting the hurricane relief efforts highlighted the contrast in styles between the Vermont soldiers and local police and sheriffs.

<snip>

By about 9 p.m., darkness had settled over the Guards patrol areas and the third platoon was starting to settle into their checkpoints at the entrance to the Monterey Court neighborhood when a sheriff's cruiser and a pickup truck pulled up.

Two deputies were in the cruiser and another three or four were loaded into the truck.

The deputies asked the Guard how things were going. When the soldiers said it was boring, one deputy said "I guess we'll go make a run through there to see if we can stir some (stuff) up."

"They're going in in squad size. It looks like they're loading up," one Guardsman said as the deputies pulled forward about 50 yards to get ready to make their patrol.

The Guard prepared to spread out to catch anyone running from the deputies, but the next hour or so was quiet.

"They said they went back in there and kicked everybody's door in," said Sgt. Francis Estey of Arlington.

more...


http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050910/NEWS/509100365/1004


Identified in the article are five Guardsmen - Sgt. Francis Estey, Staff Sgt. Eric Crammond, Sgt. Michael Scott, Spc. Michael Shepard & Maj. Michael Papariello.

According to the article Gretna is under the jurisdiction of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

The article itself documents multiple abuses by the local police, including 'kicking butt' just for fun.

[ecoflame]

6. Ah!.....

I thought you were saying they were NOT Gretna police - you used the word 'misidentified'. City police officers versus county police officers.

I ran across this on Democracy Now. The bit about Slonsky & Bradshaw's experiences are about halfway thru at 9:00 minutes. Up first is an exchange between George Galloway & Christopher Hitchens.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/16/1223201

[EnfantTerrible]

5. Unbelievable.

No, actually all too believable...